REBNY rolls out residential listing service

A behind-the-scenes shift in the way apartment listings get from some of the city's biggest brokerages to websites like Realtor and Trulia began Tuesday. The move is designed to bring greater accuracy to data but also has implications for an ongoing spat between brokers and StreetEasy, the largest listings platform in the city.

Until this week brokerages sent information about available apartments to the host of listings websites individually, creating a rat's nest of communication lines. Most cities in the country have a central clearinghouse of information called a multiple listings service.

In an effort to change that dynamic, the Real Estate Board of New York rolled out a new component ofits Residential Listing Service Tuesday after two years of work. Now brokerages have the option to send their listings data to REBNY, which can then push out the apartment information to the wide array of websites from one source called a syndicated feed.

"During the ongoing rollout and expansion of syndication, more public real estate listings websites, services and products will be added to the palette of options that brokers can select to increase listing visibility and the reach of New York City's most accurate and consistent listing information," REBNY President John Banks said in a statement.

StreetEasy, however, is not accepting the data feed. A spokeswoman said that getting information directly from the brokerages provides the quickest and most accurate information, and inserting REBNY into the process diminishes the quality of the information.

The website has irked brokerages lately by instituting a $3-per-day charge for each rental listing and by rolling out a program called Premiere Agent that applies to for-sale properties. When house hunters land on a listing, they will see the name and number of a broker, called a premiere agent, who paid a fee to be featured on listings in a certain ZIP code. Information on the agent who listed the property is available only after clicking on a tab.

Several brokerages have stopped sending a direct feed to StreetEasy as a result and hope that if enough companies move all their apartment information over to the REBNY service, they will eventually be able to better dictate the terms of how their listings are shown.

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